County’s jobless rate falls to 8 percent

Friday

Apr 25, 2014 at 4:00 PM

By Daily Telegram staff

Lenawee County’s jobless rate fell back to 8 percent in March with an estimated gain of 247 jobs since February, according to figures released Thursday by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget.

The job gain follows February’s increase of about 500 jobs in Lenawee County and a statewide growth trend in March.

Lenawee County’s unemployment rate in February was 8.4 percent. It rose from 8 percent in January due to a boost in people looking for work.

All neighboring Michigan counties saw their jobless rates fall last month. Washtenaw County had a 5.2 percent rate, the lowest among the 83 counties. Monroe County had a 7.2 percent rate, 15th best in the state. Lenawee County ranked 22nd, ahead of Jackson County with an 8.2 percent jobless rate and 24th ranking. Hillsdale County had a 9 percent jobless rate and was ranked 34th.

“The comeback is happening and it’s not isolated to one region or industry. It truly is a comeback for all of Michigan,” Gov. Rick Snyder said in a statement released Thursday. “While this reduced unemployment in every regional labor market continues the positive trend, we still have more work to do,” he said. “These positive job reports prove that we are the comeback state, but we must continue to build on our successes.

“The labor market situation in March for Michigan’s various local areas was favorable,” said Jason Palmer, director of the Bureau of Labor Market Information & Strategic Initiatives. “In early 2014, the majority of the state’s local labor markets continue to show solid over-the-year improvement.”

From February to March, unemployment rate reductions were mostly minor, with a median decrease of three-tenths of a percentage point.

Since March 2013, jobless rates fell in all 17 major regions. Declines ranged from 0.5 to 1.5 percentage points with a median rate reduction of 0.9 percent.

The number of employed workers in Lenawee County grew to 41,313 in March, an increase of 517 from last year when the county’s jobless rate was 9.2 percent, or 1.2 percent higher than in March this year.

“Household employment increased in March, mostly due to seasonal job gains in construction, leisure and hospitality, and professional and business services,” said Leonidas Murembya, analyst for the 12-county Southwest Region that includes Lenawee County. Job growth ranged from 100 in Hillsdale to 1,200 in Kalamazoo.

Two regional counties, Kalamazoo and St. Joseph, had lower jobless rates than the national unadjusted rate of 6.8 percent. At 8 percent, Michigan’s unadjusted unemployment rate was 1.2 percent higher than the national rate.